We’ve been waiting for clarification of this final ruling for an entire year and we’re just getting details this week – days shy of the Feb 27, 2014, implementation date. Many CPS Technicians and advocates have been aware that these changes were coming but we were also aware that there were petitions pending so we were all waiting for the final word from NHTSA. There was much speculation that implementation of these changes would be delayed or that NHTSA would increase the weight limits, but none of those things happened.

So… in a nut shell, here is what parents and caregivers need to know:

There are two changes to federal safety standards going into effect this week that will affect some carseats manufacturered on or after Feb 27, 2014. First is a new label requirement. While that doesn’t sound like a big deal – it actually is. NHTSA has ruled that carseats with a 5-point harness should not be installed using the lower LATCH anchors if the combined weight of your child and the carseat exceeds 65 lbs. In these cases, you should discontinue using the lower anchors in your vehicle to install your carseat and switch to a seatbelt installation instead when your child reaches a certain weight. The label will tell you at what point you should make that switch.

The concern is that the lower LATCH anchors in your vehicle may not be strong enough to restrain a very heavy child in a very heavy carseat under severe crash loads. It makes sense – mass is mass regardless of whether it’s the mass of the child or the mass of the carseat. Both are going to exert forces on the lower LATCH anchor bars when they are loaded in a crash.

Since parents probably don’t know how much their carseat weighs, going forward NHTSA is going to require the carseat manufacturers to “do the math” for you if there is any chance that the combined total of kid weight and carseat weight may be more than 65 lbs. Many carseat manufacturers are already listing LATCH weight limits on their seats with high harness weight limits. Pictured below is the current Chicco NextFit label. The NextFit is rated up to 65 lbs in the forward-facing position but it weighs almost 25 lbs. Therefore according to the NextFit instructions you must switch to a seatbelt installation (plus tether) once your child reaches 40 lbs.

Not all carseats will have LATCH weight limits but it will be the responsibility of the carseat manufacturer to list one if necessary. For example, Graco knows exactly how much each of their carseats weigh and they know the maximum weight limits on the 5-point harness for each of their seats too.

The Graco ComfortSport harness is only rated to 40 lbs. and the seat itself definitely doesn’t weigh more than 25 lbs. so the new label requirement doesn’t apply to this seat. You can use LATCH (rear-facing or forward-facing) to the weight limits of a ComfortSport without concern.

The Graco Classic Ride is rated up to 50 lbs. with the harness but the seat itself weighs less than 15 lbs. so once again – the new label requirement doesn’t apply here and you can use LATCH (rear-facing or forward-facing) to the weight limits of a Classic Ride.

A bigger, heavier seat like the Graco Nautilus will require this new label that tells parents when to switch to a seatbelt installation. The 5-point harness on the Nautilus is rated up to 65 lbs. and the seat itself weighs about 20 lbs. so the label will probably tell you to discontinue installation with the lower LATCH anchors and switch to installation with seatbelt (plus tether) once your child weighs 45 lbs.

It’s up to you to keep track of how much your child weighs and to make the switch to seatbelt plus tether once your child exceeds the listed LATCH weight limit. It’s important to point out that this new requirement addresses weight limits for the lower anchors in your vehicle but does NOT impose a weight limit on the tether anchor. This is important because we always want you to use the tether if a carseat is installed forward-facing in a seating position that has a designated tether anchor.

Currently there are no infant (rear-facing only) carseats that are so heavy that they could exceed the new 65 lbs. combined LATCH weight limits. So if you have a kid in a rear-facing only infant seat – don’t worry about these new limits.

However, there are a few exceptionally heavy convertible seats that also have high rear-facing weight limits and consumers who buy these seats (manufactured after 2/27/14) will find labels and instructions telling them what the LATCH weight limits are for rear-facing (and separately for forward-facing). Convertible seats that will be required to have rear-facing lower anchor weight limits will include Diono convertibles, Graco Smart Seat & Clek Foonf. In some cases the rear-facing LATCH weight limit could be as low as 25 or 30 lbs. child weight.

The second change to federal safety standards that is also being implemented this week involves testing with the new 10 year old Hybrid III dummy. This dummy weighs about 78 lbs. and is 51″ tall. Any carseat manufactured after Feb 27, 2014 that has a 5-point harness rated beyond 65 lbs. will be required to fit this 10 yr old dummy and also be required to pass certain crash test performance standards using this dummy. Since the 10-yr-old dummy is huge – it won’t fit in most convertible seats, which is why you’ll see many carseat manufacturers backtracking on the maximum weight limits of their convertibles and some higher-weight combination seats too. Seats that may have been rated to 70 lbs. or higher in the past may now have a weight limit of 65 lbs. Some manufacturers have already backtracked to 65 lbs., others will be doing so shortly as the new requirements are phased in this week.

The Britax Frontier 90 and Pinnacle 90 will retain their 90 lb. harness weight limits as those seats are already tested with the 10 yr old dummy. We know Graco is working on a new Argos 80 (we reported on it from ABC) which will be taller than the current Argos 70 combination seat and will be reinforced to pass testing with the new dummy. When we have more details about other higher-weight harness combination seats, we will share them here.

10 year old Hybrid III dummy

Want to know more? Dive deeper with our 2nd article on the new LATCH limits.

How does this affect booster seats that install with latches but use the seat belt to restrain the child? Im ready to switch over to a booster seat (which will eventaully go backless) in my 05 Corolla. I wanted a latch system and was looking at Graco’s Affix youth booster seat since it has the easy to install latch system. Wouldn’t the latch only be responsible for the weight of the booster seat itself? To a layman like myself, these limits seem to make nore sense if your booster seat itself has belts that hold the child to the booster seat. However, I plan to LATCH the BOOSTER SEAT in the car and then use the SEATBELT to restrain my child. Is this responsible and legal? Confused Dad

Thanks for this specific advice I was basically researching all Msn in order to uncover it!

KeciaMarch 30, 2014

@Kelley – Diono’s “SuperLATCH” was already a big controversy since they claimed that it was safe to use LATCH to install their seat beyond the vehicle manufacturers’ stated LATCH weight limit. This new requirement will likely be the end of that practice but I haven’t seen a brand new (manufactured after Feb 27) Radian yet so I can’t comment with any certainty.

KelleyMarch 30, 2014

You mention that Diono are rule-breakers… Can you elaborate? I am looking for a new seat and was considering the RXT. Thank you!

KeciaMarch 28, 2014

@ Jennifer – congratulations on keeping your daughter rear-facing for this long! To answer your question, Dorel (parent company that owns EB and several other brands) does not allow you to use both the lower latch anchors connectors and seatbelt at the same time. When she’s forward-facing you can use the *top tether strap* regardless of whether you’re using seatbelt or lower latch anchors to install the seat but again you shouldn’t double up and use both. Even though your logic about having a “backup system” makes sense – in reality Dorel either didn’t test the seat this way or more likely, they did and didn’t like what they saw. Honestly, don’t worry about systems failing – just pick one method of installation to secure the seat. If using lower anchors to secure the seat is easier than just stick with that. Hope that helps!

Jennifer MischMarch 28, 2014

I have a question. I have a 3 1/2 year old girl that I have rear facing still she is only 32 lbs. We have a new Eddie Bauer – Deluxe 3-in-1. It says not to use both teether and seatbealt together; use one or the other. Wouldn’t it be safer to use both? If one fails the other one hopefully wouldn’t.

Emily KoellerMarch 4, 2014

So for my 3 year old son I use seatbelt latch and tether in my 2008 pick up. I would think from what I have read he is totally covered.

KeciaFebruary 26, 2014

@Meljc – that I can’t help with – sorry!

KeciaFebruary 26, 2014

@Candy H – to be honest, even though these changes are NOT retroactive I would switch to seatbelt plus tether in your situation. The data and evidence supporting these changes to lower anchor weight limits are compelling enough to make me uncomfortable going to the limits with a Radian using LATCH. How much does your 6 year old weigh right now? If he’s over 40 lbs – I would switch to seatbelt plus tether.

meljcFebruary 26, 2014

@Kecia – thanks for following up! Now if only I didn’t hate the True Fit…

Candy HFebruary 25, 2014

I have a Town & Country and a Radian 65 – with the new limits, does this mean I should be using the seatbelt instead of the LATCH? So confusing, as just a few months ago I was told I should be using the LATCH w/my 6 year old.

KeciaFebruary 25, 2014

@meljc – you are correct, the Honda limit used to be a flat 40 lbs (child weight) and they recently updated it to 65 lbs combined. The update is retroactive for all Honda vehicles regardless of model year. That’s good news for you as a TrueFit owner – you get that extra 6 lbs with LATCH. 🙂

KeciaFebruary 25, 2014

@Jasmin – thanks for the info. It’s seems silly to state that the LATCH limit is 48 lbs when the seat is only rated to 50 lbs with the harness. I suspect that may change in the near future since NHTSA is going to allow CR manufacturers to round up to the nearest 5 lbs. with forward-facing seats. That will eliminate oddball numbers like 48, 37, 51. And instead we’ll have 40, 45, 50 lbs., etc. If Evenflo opts for that alternative (and I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t) then the Maestro LATCH weight can be raised to 50 lbs which will be ideal.

KeciaFebruary 25, 2014

@Renee – I agree. Not having any sort of guidance, as in the case of Toyota, really adds to the confusion. What carseat do you have? Have you checked to see if the carseat states a limit for installation with lower LATCH anchors? @Joyce – I totally agree – it’s ridiculous that keeping kids safe in the car is so confusing. It’s almost like parents have no chance of “doing it right” even when they’re trying. I wish I had an easy solution but I don’t so I’ll just commiserate with you instead.

meljcFebruary 25, 2014

Honda question: I believe that my 07 CR-V originally had a LATCH limit of 40lbs of child, but the linked doc shows 65-CR. Has Honda refined its calculation and testing to account for variable seat weights per the listed formula? Or does my 07 still retain the 40lb limit? The new calculation gives me an extra 6.5lbs of LATCH with a TrueFit, for example.

JasminFebruary 25, 2014

I just purchased an Evenflo Maestro for my son. It was manufactured on 01/27/2014. It states to use the car seat belt (not lower anchers) to install for children over 48#. That would mean a seat belt install for 2# as it is outgrown at 50#. I suppose at the point it will just be used as a booster or be passed down to little sis. I am glad the new labels will hopefully help parents use the seats correctly.

JoyceFebruary 25, 2014

Why are the most important things the most confusing? I consider myself to be a very bright person, but navigating which carseats are needed/allowed/preferred at what age/height/weight and the installations is very complicated.

ReneeFebruary 25, 2014

For our car type (Toyota) it was “Weight limit of CR”. I am assuming that means I do not have to worry about the weight of the car seat itself? So my car seat is rated to 65 lbs, so I can stay on latch until my child is 65 lbs, even if the car seat weights 20 lbs? I wish they gave more detail to clarify, like how much the actual latch IS rated for.

KellyFebruary 25, 2014

There is a picture above showing a forward facing seat with a ceiling tether and it is installed UNDER the headrest then attached to the tether hook. This is unsafe and should never be done. Take the headrest off!!

So this sounds a little different than the latch manual. Maybe I am misreading.

KeciaFebruary 24, 2014

@Techno – I hesitate to speculate on Diono because they are already rule-breakers so I don’t want to say it’s the end of higher weight latch limits for them but based on what I’ve read it probably is the end. The seats will continue to feature the SuperLATCH connectors but whether or not they’ll be rated beyond 40 lbs is the question. @Nedra – I have no idea why Chrysler has different limits for different vehicles but if I find out – I’ll let you know.

NedraFebruary 24, 2014

I don’t see Subaru either. Also, I’m just curious, why does Chrysler have so many different specific limits while other manufacturers have just one?

TechnoGranolaFebruary 24, 2014

So does this mean Diono SuperLatch has gone the way of the dodo bird? (In the USA at least)

And I don’t see Mazda in the list of vehicle limits?

KeeyamahFebruary 24, 2014

Checked the link to double check my mom’s 2004 Ford Freestar for my older son’s Frontier 85. And for about a sec, went YAY! I can go back to LATCH, then I remembered I recently weighed him at 48lbs, lol. So no LATCH for the beast of a seat, but my younger son’s Radian is good for another 20lbs, 17 of those will be rearfacing, so I may just switch to seatbelt when he goes forward facing in a couple years (maybe a little less, dang top of the charts kids).

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